The Chase
by ItchyBeard579
Summary: Po knew well that motivation was an important thing and thanks to Shifu, he learned that food was a great thing to motivate himself with. But he still had to learn how troublesome that kind of motivation could get...


**A/N: Hello again! I'm back in town and I'm able to continue writing again! I got a little stuck with my other story so I thought a one-shot would do the trick to ease my mind. This story is based on an idea I got when watching the scene where Po imagined the Dragon Scroll was a cookie in order to reach it. As useful as that is, it could lead to trouble... I hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda**

**The Chase**

He was panting, wheezing even. His legs were on fire, the relatively cold morning breeze doing nothing to help the burning pain in his body. He was slowly starting to reconsider his earlier opinion on the idea of skipping breakfast, finding himself rather glad that there was no more food in his stomach to throw up. Once a day was enough, as far as he was concerned.

„Almost... almost there!"

Spotting his goal so close allowed him to move with renewed vigor, if only for a few more steps. He didn't dare to keep track of the time. He knew well enough that noon would not come in a few hours. The thought that he would have to keep going with this for so long caused his legs to tremble. Up and down, back and forth. Over and over again. No, thinking as a whole was not helping.

„Gah! Three!" he shouted upon making it to the top of the stairs, then collapsed on the ground right after. „I... I'm taking a break! This is torture!"

„Not exactly awesome, is it?"

Po didn't even bother to look at her. The fact that she used his signature phrase against him made him frown in irritation, but he wasn't in the mood, nor did he have the strenght, to retort.

„Stand up, Dragon Warrior. You have four more hours to go."

„F-four hours?"

The panda, who was in the middle of standing up, suddenly found himself lying on the floor again with a look of defeat all over his face.

_How did I get myself into this gain?_ he asked himself. He didn't really need to, however, as he knew which of his actions led to him to his current situation. That didn't mean he thought it was fair, though, as it wasn't really his fault that he spilled hot soup on Shifu. Nor was it his fault that he fainted during his first mission on the way back, which resulted in Tigress having to carry him.

And here he was now, running up and down the seemingly endless staircase to the Jade Palace, with Tigress as his master, since Shifu was currently away, attending an important meeting.

„You've managed only three rounds so far, which is rather unimpressive."

He only grunted in reply, focusing more on his breathing than on her words.

„With stamina like this, how did you manage to defeat Tai Lung?"

Po turned his gaze away from her at the mention of the leopard. He thought that defeating him three weeks ago gained him her respect along with the respect of the rest of the Five, and for the most part it did, but he wasn't exactly sure in her case. Perhaps she just had different ways about showing someone she respected them... or perhaps she was just still upset about the fact that she had to carry him that one time.

„Wha-what do you mean?" the panda finally asked in reply. „I have already-"

„Please, you can't possibly expect me to believe the silly tale with pans and fireworks."

Po grimaced. He told the story of his victory over Tai Lung a few times, mainly to the curious villagers that kept asking him about it. Po didn't really mind as he was always enthusiastic about telling stories of great battles and adventures, but this one he found rather tricky. One reason was that it was about _him _and _his_ fight, but that would not be such a problem. The main reason was that he was very reluctant to speak truthfully about the final moments of the battle.

Tigress noticed his hesitance in those moments, when he was struggling to avoid telling the truth, and discredited the whole tale as a lie.

„But why?" he asked. „I mean, Kung Fu is about using your surroundings to your advantage, right? And when your surroundings include a pile of pans and a fireworks cart-"

„And I suppose you used pans and fireworks to create the shockwave that spread over the whole valley?"

„Uhm... yeah?"

The glare she gave him after his answer made him gulp. _Why is it such a deal for her?_ he asked himself, hoping she would drop the subject.

Tigress herself was considering ordering him to tell the truth, as she had the right to do so since Shifu left her in charge of the palace for as long as he was gone, thus making her Po's superior. She knew she was overly curious. She did in fact respect the panda. She fully accepted him as the Dragon Warrior when he defeated the Master of the Thousand Scrolls, but she still did find herself doubting from time to time.

Considering that Po has been training for significantly shorter time than she was, he was advancing at an admirable pace. And while he was no longer at 'level zero', he was far from being at the level The Five were at... or so the feline thought, given how he fared during his training and in their sparring sessions.

Po finally stood up, his composure regained. His feet still burned, though. Tigress was still glaring at him, as if trying to read the answer she sought from his eyes.

„It's the motivation thing, I guess..." he muttered silently. „I mean, there's not much of a motivation here."

„Improving your skills and getting better at Kung Fu isn't enough of a motivation for you?"

„Well, yeah, sure. But running up and down the stairs? Could that be any less awesome?"

The way her eyes squinted in reaction to his last words made him fear the consequences. He was seriously starting to fear that she would come up with very painful ways how to make the already plodding exercise more 'awesome' for the panda.

„And what motivation did you have during your fight with Tai Lung?"

„Uh... protecting the valley and keeping myself alive?" he said in a squeaky voice, uncertain of where that would lead to.

The feline ceased her glaring, switching to a deadpan expression instead. After a few moments her eyes glinted with mischief.

„Very well then. So do you think that if I came with a sufficient motivation for you and made the training less... dull, you would perform better?"

Po allowed himself a moment to reconsider. There was no telling what she had in mind, but seeing as his current predicament would likely end up in him fainting and being unable to walk without his legs hurting for a few days...

„I think so. What did you have in mind?"

„I propose this. Instead of running up and down the stairs, your task will be to catch me."

„Huh?"

Tigress was amused by his surprised reaction, but she kept her expression neutral.

„You heard me. I will run and your objective will be to catch me."

Po did not expect that. Nor did he see how it was supposed to make the situation any better. He knew how quick she was.

Noticing his confusion, she proceeded with the explanation. „The exercise will not have to last until noon. If you succeed, the chase is over and you can have the rest of the day along with tomorrow off."

Po's face visibly lit up. It seemed as if she was successfully getting him motivated.

„And if I fail?" he asked, his momentary smile fading.

„If you don't manage to catch me by noon, you will resume with the stairs until sunset and you will have to tell me what _really _happened with Tai Lung," she stated in emotionless tone. Then, smirking, she added. „And there will be no lunch."

Her smirk only widened when Po's face contorted in horror. He gulped loudly and as if on cue, a rumbling sound echoed from his belly.

„Motivated enough," he said with a nod, feeling his determination rising.

„Good," Tigress said, smiling to herself. She had him where she wanted him. „Let us begin."

She took off so quickly that before Po even realized what was happening, she was almost out of his sight. Letting out a startled cry he ran after her in a panicky fashion, the image of the consequences of him losing forcing him to overcome the pain in his legs.

Despite the efficent motivation, he soon found himself despairing. No amount of motivation could change the fact that he was a tired giant panda, while she was a very fast tiger.

„I could swear I heard you say that you were sufficiently motivated," she spoke from above him, standing on the roof of the barracks, gazing at the panting panda below. „It would seem that motivation alone isn't enough."

„Not fair!" Po exclaimed weakly, his hands resting on his knees as he stared at the wall in front of him, considering whether it was worth the trouble to climb up to her. „This is almost like trying to beat Crane in flying! And I didn't even have a breakfast!"

_Not that it would help, _he added in his mind, remembering the throwing up at the stairs.

„Excuses aren't really going to help you. Do you wish to give up?"

Po was not one to give up. He wouldn't be the Dragon Warrior otherwise. He _was_ determined to do what it took to gain her respect... and he didn't really want to have to skip lunch either, but he really wished she had picked up a different challenge.

_And I thought Shifu was harsh, _he thought, recalling his training with the red panda in the Wu Dan Mountains. _He was also making me work for food, though, but-_

He stopped, his eyes widening as an idea suddenly crossed his mind.

_Of course! It worked with Tai Lung when he was trying to get the scroll. It should work now as well!_

Tigress sighed, turning her gaze toward the sun. _It's still over three hours till noon,_ she thought to herself. _It seems that motivation itself won't do much here. He certainly didn't defeat Tai Lung by tiring him out, that's for sure._

She turned her gaze back toward the panda and frowned when she noticed his expression. He was squinting his eyes, staring intensively at her, repeatedly closing his eyes and turning his head sideways.

Then, upon opening them again, his eyes went wide with excitement. „A-ha!" he exclaimed loudly, grinning at her like a maniac.

Tigress instinctively took a step behind and her muscles tensed up at the sight, the look he gave her actually creeping her out. What shocked her even more, however, was when he suddenly started climbing toward her at a rapid pace. Pace she would think impossible for the heavy bear.

She only snapped out of her surprise when the panda's large black paw appeared at the edge of the roof she stood upon. She immediately jumped off the roof, landing on all fours and taking off at full speed.

Glancing behind her, her eyes grew wide when she saw the panda actually _gaining_ on her. Completely bewildered, she increased her speed and ran toward the forest where she was sure she would gain advantage.

_Impossible! Ridiculous! Impossible! s_he kept on shouting in her mind, unable to accept the idea that the panda was keeping up with her. _This was supposed to be a certain win for me. This is MY domain! How does he do it? Could it have something to do with the Dragon Scroll? It was blank! How can he-_

Her track of thoughts was suddenly interrupted when a loud cry was heard from above her.

_He can fly now, too?_

Gazing over her shoulder, she stared stunned at the large black and white blur flying, or rather falling, in her direction. She quickly rolled to a side, watching as the panda landed on one of the large bamboo shoots, bending it down to the point where he simply stepped of it, making it straighten back up in a flash.

_Using bamboo to catapult himself? _Tigress blinked repeatedly, trying to digest the thought.

He turned towards her, the same maniac expression on his face, his tounge dangling out.

_Oh gods, he's gone insane,_ she thought, running again, jumping atop the bamboo stalks, repeatedly changing direction in order to confuse the panda and lose him.

_I should have just challenged him to a spar. This is getting preposterous beyond mea-GAH!_

Her mind went blank when suddenly, in mid-jump, she felt a large weight pull her down. A mix of shock and rage went through her as she hit the ground, landing unelegantly on her back, instead of on her paws. The most outraging and at the same time absurd thing was the realization of what she was pulled down by.

The fur on her neck was standing and her claws were half unsheated, the shock being the only thing that kept her from dismembering the attacker right away.

The very idea was just so absurd. Surely no one, not even him could be so stupid to...

Supporting herself on her elbows, she raised enough to get a look at the Dragon Warrior, fighting the urge to pummel him right where he laid. Like her, he failed at landing properly, lying on his stomach as he was. It wasn't such a surprise, though. For one, he was never good at landing...

And then there was the fact that he couldn't use his arms to better balance himself, seeing as his paws were busy gripping her tail...

The tail he was _chomping_ on.

For a long moment there was silence as none of them moved an inch. Po froze the moment he realized what he had done. Tigress reamined still, so far successfully fighting her instincts that told her to claw the panda's face off.

Then a loud growl echoed through the forest as the feline's eyes turned from wide to slits.

Po reacted by tightening his grip on the tail with both his paws and his teeth. Not in defiance, but in pure fear. He stared straight ahead of himself, too scared to look at her, his eyes wide as dinner plates, shock written all over his face.

_Bad idea! BAD IDEA! Why didn't I just stick to the stairs!_

„Panda..."

_I'm dead..._

**A/N: Thank you for reading! I'm considering turning this into a multi-chapter story sometimes. Let me know what you think! The more reviews it gets, the more motivated I get to keep it going! See ya!**


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